


The Birthday Boy From TB5

by HedwigsTalons, ParkerCat, WillowDragonCat



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Birthday Party, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:15:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27250306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedwigsTalons/pseuds/HedwigsTalons, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParkerCat/pseuds/ParkerCat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowDragonCat/pseuds/WillowDragonCat
Summary: It's John's birthday and all he wants is a quiet night...
Relationships: Alan Tracy/Brandon Berrenger, John Tracy/Selene Tempest, Penelope Creighton-Ward/Gordon Tracy, Scott Tracy/Catriona George, Virgil Tracy/Claire Ashwell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	The Birthday Boy From TB5

“Nope, just a bit more. Come on.”

John twisted his head to the side, opening his mouth, although his eyes stayed firmly fixed on the screen in front of him. Selene offered the bagel again and held it steady while he nibbled absently on the crust, waiting while he chewed. This was a pretty normal occurrence, her forcing him to eat because he was too distracted to do it himself, but this time she had a slight ulterior motive.

“So, have you thought about what you want to do for your birthday?” She turned the bagel to a fresh side, hoping to tempt him, waving it under his nose as one would a dog. She’d found it was always best to ask him difficult questions when he was distracted enough to not really register what you actually said, he’d just answer and his brain would catch up after.

“Huh?” he took another bite, eyes scanning his screen as he swiped something aside and pulled up another feed.

“You, birthday, family time.”

“Eh,” he shrugged dismissively.

“John, no, you promised. It’s your birthday, we love you and we want to celebrate with you.”

“If you all loved me you’d leave me in peace,” his eyes slid sideways to look at her, clearly showing that he was now paying full attention, aware of her plan, before he looked away again.

Selene was never against resorting to dirty tactics when the situation called for it and in this, boy did she have a situation. She let her bottom lip pout out in her best Alan impression and gave him the saddest eyes she could conjure up.

“I’m not looking at you, I know exactly what you’re trying to do and it won’t work.”

“But, don’t you want to celebrate with me?”

“If you want me to celebrate with you I can guarantee you won’t want my family to be there.”

“Baby, you know that’s an after party celebration.”

“No,” he actually turned to look at her fully, that was how serious he was. “Let me make myself very clear, are you listening to me?”

She nodded innocently.

“No party.”

“I didn’t mean an actual party! Seriously, what do you take me for? Do you honestly think that I’d plan a party for you? We have actually met, I do know a tiny bit about you.”

“I should hope so, since we’re married.”

“And therefore,” she continued as if he hadn’t said anything, stuffing the bagel back in his mouth so he couldn’t argue, “I know you well enough to understand that the last thing you would ever want would be a party. Plus, as you so helpfully pointed out, as if I could forget, we just got married, which involved a number of party-like events and that means you have certainly used up your quota of social events for probably the next two years.”

“Three,” he mumbled around his mouth full of toasted goodness spread with cream cheese, “at least.”

“So, a party was never even on my radar, but we will be organising something, so you have the choice of helping Decide what form that something will take or leaving it in the lap of the Gods, i.e me and Scott. So, what’s it gonna be, Spaceman?”

“I guess I could help a little,” he conceded, knowing she was right. If he didn’t help his family would take over and that could be so much worse.

“Good, so, I’m gonna throw out some questions and you just answer them and it’ll be great, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he threatened, finishing his bagel, his eyes already drifting back to his work.

“Food you’d want to eat?” Selene pulled out her phone to start making a list.

“Pizza.”

“Place?”

“Our apartment.”

“Somewhere where the rest of your family will be,” she insisted.

“Fine, then I guess the Island, I don’t want to go anywhere, I want a quiet birthday at home, with no fuss.”

“Of course you do,” she rolled her eyes but dutifully wrote it down.

“Drinks?” 

“Good old fashioned beer, do not let Gordon near the bar again.” He swore, in the dark of night, he could still taste the concoction Gordon had pressed on him at Virgil's birthday. He was beginning to fear that his tongue would never be the same again. 

“Sensible request,” she acknowledged, noticing him wincing at the memory. “Activity?” 

“Can’t we just relax and watch a movie? You know, couch, blankets, movie, bed?” Was that a slightly suggestive eyebrow quirk she saw? She did believe it was. Interesting. She stored that away for later. 

“Movie, got it. Any requests? Comedy, action, sci-fi, historical?”

“You know I don’t really enjoy the kind of movies the others do, my sense of humour is a little more…”

“Sophisticated?”

“I’m going to go with actually funny,” his fingers danced over his screen, picking up and selecting a few icons, making a couple smaller and then enlarging the rest.

“Harsh.”

“Accurate.”

“Fine, what about a cake, any preferences?”

“I have a craving for lemon.”

“Lemon, that I can do. Any other demands for the list?”

“Yes, family only, no friends.”

“OK, that’s doable."

"And no karaoke."

"You drive a hard bargain," she mock sighed as she cupped his chin, forcing him to turn his head so she could steal a kiss. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“It wasn't like I had much of a choice.”

“No, but I like to give the illusion that you have a say in things now and then,” she kissed his nose and turned away, already texting. “EOS, please ready the elevator, I need to gather the troops and go shopping.”

John shook his head, knowing he was beaten. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?

***

“OK girlies, we’re on a mission of utmost importance…" Selene looked back to check they were paying attention. "Claire will you please put down your notes and listen , there is nothing more important right now.”

This earned her a scowl but the chemist dutifully tapped a few buttons and set her tablet down, looking back at the comm screen at the witch.

"And no setting it up to transfer to your comm so I won’t see you looking," Selene warned. 

The scowl was accompanied by a sigh and more button tapping. "Fine, I've asked Brains to keep an eye on the data feed but if he calls I'll need to get back to the lab before things go critical."

"Define critical because, to me, organizing my husband’s birthday, one that he won’t actually run away from, is kind of a priority right now. Cat, help me out here.”

"Leave me out of this," Cat laughed, stepping into camera range on the comm that Selene held and waving to Claire. 

"Taking out the western end of the island and maybe adding a new crater to the landscaping," Claire answered. 

"Alright," Selene allowed, "that just about counts as more important, if Brains calls you may be excused but anything else can wait." Selene, defying her own mandate because her’s was far more important and actually related to their task, opened up the file on her phone to check her list. 

“OK, we are the ground crew here, we are the ones that are in charge of making sure that everyone eats, behaves and enjoys themselves. It’s almost mission impossible, but we are the Island girls so we got this shit.” There, that sounded confident enough, didn't it? Selene thought so. 

"Would you settle for two out of three? Eats and enjoys, fine, but behaves? Let's not ask the impossible." Some would call her a cynic but Claire preferred to see herself as a realist.

“Please don’t crush my dreams or I’ll just curl up in a ball on the floor right here and rock myself into naptime.”

Claire thought Selene was being a little over-dramatic but they had gotten used to each other over time. They were opposing ends of the spectrum and when Cat had rocked up she had slotted neatly into the middle ground between the two. 

“I’d agree with Claire that expecting them all to behave is probably unlikely, but we can certainly try,” Cat interjected, sensing the stress radiating off Selene but also keen to keep a realistic cap on what they were likely to be able to achieve. “It sounds like we need to get this show on the road to avoid both literal and metaphorical explosions, so why don’t you tell us what you were thinking and we can work out how we’re going to do it?” 

"This is John so I'm guessing giant ball pits aren't part of the equation this time." Virgil's party had been amazing and completely unlike anything Claire had encountered before with the family but there was no escaping the fact that one brother in particular had been more on the edges of that gathering. That wasn't to say John hadn't enjoyed the night, he'd joined in with all the festivities, but you could tell it wasn't his style of fun.

"He's been very specific with his requests, in fact most of them were more like orders," Selene sighed handing the comm to Cat freeing up her hands as she began ticking items off on her fingers. "No party, no karaoke, no surprises of any kind, no one but family and their partners, so I guess we are included." The other two ladies rolled their eyes in unison, having expected nothing less. 

"He wants pizza, a movie night, decent beer, lots of blankets and lemon cake. That's about all I could get him to agree to. I know he's not really a 'go big or go home' type of person but I think, between us we should be able to come up with a few ways of embellishing his requests to make the night a little bit more special, don't you?" The look on Selene’s face said they had very little choice in the matter, a positive mental attitude was key, she was counting on them. 

“Just don’t let Grandma anywhere near the cake, the last time she made something with lemons it ended up tasting like bathroom cleaner.”

“How do you know what bathroom cleaner tastes like?” Cat asked. 

“Lab accident,” Claire shrugged, “it made everything taste funny for a week. Well, if he wants a movie how about we set up on the beach? We’ll have more space to spread out. I mean, much as the boys are great, last movie night I had Alan sat on my feet the whole time. I’m sure Virgil could rig up a gantry for a screen easily enough. You’ll have to let me know if you want holo-capabilities though because that’s going to take more set up than straight projection.”

"I was thinking something similar, like a real, old fashioned drive in type movie, no holograms, no fancy effects, just a back to…" Selene paused, an idea forming. "Think we could get away with dressing up like 1950s teens and making it a drive in?" she was joking, she knew John would never dress up, but a few others definitely would. 

“That should be doable,” Claire nodded. “You leave the screen and projection set up to me. I’m no good at decor so if you want anything fancy you’d better ask the creative one but you can be damn sure you’ll get good picture and sound quality. Uh, about the dressing up though, I don’t think I’ve done that since I was about six.”

"Yeah, getting John to do anything remotely Halloween related is but a pipe dream to me, but I live in hope daily." Selene checked her list, mentally dividing the workload. "I've already ordered the pizza oven, we just have to pick it up, Scott and Virgil have promised they won't go overboard with the fire building this time. So all that's left to do is grab some ingredients for the pizza making and the cake, because I am determined that I'm going to bake it and then I'm going gift hunting. What are you girls planning?"

“For once I’m organised with my present. You know how he keeps stealing my pens?”

"He denies it, just for the record."

“He can deny it all he wants but whenever he is planetside all my pens disappear and it never happens at any other time.”

"Pure coincidence," Selene lied smoothly, protecting her man's integrity. 

“Really?” Claire’s eyebrows couldn’t rise much higher if she tried, the ongoing rivalry between her and John had become something of a running joke in the house. “He’s always on at me to switch to digital, he even had the cheek to give me a pressure tablet and stylus. Apparently it was meant to be just as good as writing on paper, but it wasn’t. Well, I tracked down one of the original moon landing stationery gift sets. He will have a pen and he will like it.”

"Honestly, my beloved goes out of his way to be nice and give you a tablet and you're ungrateful," she tried to keep her face serious but failed. "I'm sure he'll love it. Me, I've got absolutely no idea what to get him, I've got two extra present giving days than you do, you just have birthday and Christmas, I have anniversaries too. Think I can get away with buying myself a pretty underwear set with lots of bows and saying I'm the gift?"

“Probably. Except if you do that before we show the movie we’ll never get him down to the beach. I know what you two are like.”

"I do believe you are insinuating something, Miss I still keep denying that was my bra Alan found in module three." 

Claire blushed a similar colour to Thunderbird 3. “Hmm, yes, well, some of those maintenance tasks can make you pretty warm and it doesn’t do to wear too many layers in the heat. But there is no need to traumatise the poor boy further, you would have thought he was handling radioactive waste when he found it.”

Selene and Cat exchanged a glance, trying not to laugh, though honestly they couldn't talk, the villa might be big but there were still a lot of people living there and they had all been caught out at some point or another. 

"Moving on before Claire actually combusts, we know what we’re planning so how do you want to divide it all up?” Cat grinned, keen to keep the conversation on target rather than drifting off onto subjects that were better kept for discussion over a few drinks on one of their occasional girls nights out.

"Claire can I leave you in charge of ordering the food, you’ve got my list, while we get the cake ingredients and continue my gift hunt?" Selene asked. 

“Sure. Do you want the pizzas made up in advance or should we just have piles of toppings and let everyone go nuts?”

"Get every topping you can think of, get the dough for the bases but we're doing everything else ourselves. Also we need some of that fancy Canadian beer that John loves, you know the one Scott says tastes like it was strained through a cabbage leaf? Oh, and we should get movie snacks too, shouldn't we?" 

"Absolutely. Popcorn, nachos and maybe some pick n mix should do it,” Cat reeled off quickly. “We could even stick some ice cream in the cooler in case anyone fancies that too. We all know what Gordon’s like with those bloody cornettos now too so probably best to get some of them as well." 

“Who do you think we should send for the ingredients on the day?”Claire asked, making herself a note. “Can Scott be trusted to stick to a list if we give him one? Normally supplies are Virgil’s line but he’s going to be busy with the screen and we want the toppings to be fresh.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty good with solid instructions although there’s always the risk that he’ll come back with some unexpected and unwelcome additions too so it’s probably safest if I go with him and supervise,” Cat offered. “I’ll definitely be quicker that way and when we get back we’ll get the blankets and bedding down to the beach so we’re all nice and comfortable.”

Selene debated the theory that things would get done quicker if Cat went too, she knew how these things went, get any of the boys out of the house where there could be a tiny hint of privacy and they would make full use of it. 

“Just a thought,” Claire broke off from where she was all ready scribbling down a shopping list in one of her many notebooks, “does the guest list extend to Penelope?”

"Yep, Penelope and Brandon, we're getting the whole gang together. Let's face it, it wouldn't be very nice to have three of the boys paired off and the other two pining, would it?" 

“Aww that’s great. It’ll be good to have everyone here and catch up properly,” Cat smiled, looking forward to the night even more now she knew her best friend would be there too. 

Claire’s phone buzzed, even the tone sounding frantic.

“Let me guess, you’ve been summoned by the Brainiac?” Selene asked.

“Got it in one. Sorry, I gotta go.” Claire’s image blinked out of existence.

“OK, so, gift for your hubby, what are you thinking?” Cat asked as she handed the comm back to Selene who tucked it into her bag.

“I have no idea, but I’ll know it when I see it,” Selene insisted. “Let’s grab a coffee for a power up and hit the shops.”

Selene moved with the single minded determination of a woman with a man to please, unfortunately she wouldn't be doing it the fun way…she paused as they passed by an adult store. Would it hurt to pop in and get something fun like massage oils or maybe lickable body paints, even she could be artistic if she had that gorgeous a canvas to draw on. 

Cat caught her friend’s eye, the two exchanging a silent conversation that consisted of a few raised eyebrows, a ‘meh’ nose scrunch and a deciding nod.

With a quick look around, making sure that no one was looking their way, the press being an ever present nuisance, they diverted into the shop. Selene quickly selected a few items that seemed like they could be of interest, Cat grabbing a few of the same.

“When in Rome,” she shrugged.

“Or when in a sex shop,” Selene shot back.

They quickly paid for their items and stashed them in Selene’s suitcase sized bag that she carted everywhere. The boys teased her about it, of course, but they were always pathetically grateful when they needed something and she would rummage in its dark depths, whip it out and hand it over with a proud flourish. It wasn’t that they were ashamed of having shopped there, but it still wasn’t something they would want being splashed about to the public should anyone see them carrying the bags and take a picture.

“Well, those will make for fun times,” Cat said, sharing an evil grin with Selene.

“Oh, yes, they certainly will, but unfortunately a few silly bits aren't going to cut it in the birthday present stakes,” she sighed. “I need something bigger, better, more John, you know, and I guess less me. But that’s easier said than done.”

“I got faith in you,” Cat smiled, slipping her arm through her friend’s. “You always manage to pull something fantastic out of your arse at the last minute.”

“That’s definitely not something I picked up in that last shop,” Selene promised, smiling wickedly when her friend burst into shocked laughter. “Come on, let’s get moving, we haven’t got all day.”

Selene dragged Cat from one shop to another, checking out an endless stream of things that she declared to be utter shit. Every shop seemed to be filled with useless rubbish, nothing screamed John. Honestly, what did you even get for the man that literally has everything? How had she expected a mall to provide when days of Internet searches had proved fruitless? 

John wasn't a particularly materialistic man, he didn't crave things the way she did, she was rather like an overly sentimental magpie. She collected things, little trinkets and mementos of special events. She kept every gift she was given no matter how ridiculous, she had bits that had belonged to other people, like family and friends and just seeing them brought a smile to her face as she remembered their previous owners.

John was different, he collected things, sure, he was just as sentimental, but in his own way. Where Selene preferred tangible, physical things, things she could touch and hold, feeling the energy of their owners, he was digital. He stored everything away, every little scrap of information about his family and friends, all carefully catalogued, preserved, protected, like a digital journal of his life and the people he loved.

She wasn't a digital person at all, she couldn't do the things he could, work computers or code the way he did, it might as well be an alien language to her, she was a technophobe of the highest order, there was nothing she could do for him like that. 

She sighed, fingering a particularly hideous looking scarf that he'd never need or want but she was seriously debating buying at that moment, that's how desperate she was. Cat, trying to be helpful, held up what looked to be a decorative bird cage, seeming to be clutching at the same straws Selene was. Selene shook her head and Cat put it back down with a defeated sigh.

Selene looked around the shop they'd ended up in, an Aladdin's cave of junk, like a thrift shop had mated with an antique warehouse, some old items mixed in with random bits and bobs that looked like they had been cleared out of someone's basement. 

Gods, the memories in this place, everywhere she looked there was stuff. She reached out a hand, drawn to a pretty vase, brushing it with her fingertips, feeling the low, buzzing hum of contentment and peace. She sighed softly, wishing she could show him exactly how she saw things. She paused, the first nugget of an idea beginning to form.

“Did you just think of something?” Cat asked, knowing that look, it was the one that Scott called Selene’s lightbulb moment.

“You know, I think I might have,” Selene hedged as she turned towards the counter where a little old man sat perched on a high stool. “Hey, do you have any nice boxes? Like maybe something wooden and old, he likes history. It needs to be pretty big though, because I always over pack."

***

“If we can’t go out for the afternoon, let’s go for lunch at least,” Scott pleaded as he and Cat made their way from the airfield into Wellington to pick up the food. 

“No, I've told you we don’t have that long,” Cat explained patiently for what felt like the millionth time since they left the island. “This is just a collection mission cos we still need to get all the blankets and stuff together when we get back.”

“But it’s been ages since we’ve spent any time together, just the two of us,” Scott continued, unperturbed by the lack of agreement coming from his girlfriend as he took one hand off the steering wheel and started stroking her leg.

Cat rolled her eyes as she took his hand and deposited it back on the wheel, just glad that he’d been keeping his eyes on the road. One flash of them and she’d have agreed in an instant, time constraints be damned. 

“We spent the weekend together 2 weeks ago, and you’ll be back in London again next week,” she reminded him, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice. Seeing his mouth curl up at the corners slightly, she knew that he had a plan and she was done for. 

“Yeah, but it’s not like we’ve had much time alone together since you got here…” he wheedled, pulling up at a red light and turning to fix her with a look that she just knew would include pleading, puppy dog eyes that somehow contained fire in their depths. 

She had no idea how he did it, but experience had taught Cat it would be the end of her, so she stayed resolutely looking straight ahead, not willing to give him the satisfaction of meeting his gaze as she felt a grin spreading unbidden across her face and laughter bubbling up in her throat. 

“Stop it,” she exclaimed, still refusing to look at him, the effect ruined as she exploded into giggles.

“Stop what?” Scott asked as innocently as he could, his grin widening by the second.

“You know fine well what. Stop looking at me like that,” she pleaded, finding it hard to breathe through the laughter as she finally turned to him. “You are a pain in the arse, Scott Tracy. Fine, we’ll go for lunch. It needs to be something quick though,” she continued, managing to pull herself together a little, “I told Selene it would be faster if I came too and she gave me one of those ‘yeah, right’ looks of hers, so we need to prove her wrong.”

“That’s as good a reason as any to get a quick lunch,” Scott agreed, a grin of victory on his face as he focused his attention back on the road. “ Do you have any ideas where we should go? I’d just like to spend some time with you without everyone else around so it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Just coffee and a cake would be fine with me.”

“I think there’s a place at the retail park near the supermarket. Shall we just stop there?” Cat suggested, looking at the map on her phone to see what was nearby.

“Sounds perfect.” Scott agreed with a smile, pulling into the car park and looking for a space. 

An hour later they emerged from the cafe, happily full of panini and coffee and ready to face down the supermarket. 

“This should be pretty quick,” Cat reassured as she saw the look on Scott’s face at the busy car park. “I’ve ordered everything already so it’s just a case of getting in, picking it up and getting the hell out again.”

“You say that, but I’ve been shopping with you before,” Scott commented darkly as they made their way into the store. “You know how much I hate shopping and you always forget something and we end up having to go back again later.”

“Well, we won’t this time,” Cat replied brusquely, looking up at the signs hanging from the ceiling “Where do you think customer collections are? Ah, over there, come on.”

When she looked back down, Scott had disappeared. Sighing, she resigned herself to having to find her errant boyfriend before getting anything practical done. This wasn’t the first time he had wandered away from her in a supermarket and the fact that he’d done it now didn’t surprise her in the slightest. For all his complaints about hating shopping, he always managed to entertain himself, usually meaning that it took significantly longer than it needed to. 

Seeing a familiar head in the next aisle, she headed over and found him inspecting the vegetables. 

“Look at this carrot,” Scott chuckled as he held it up for her. “It looks like it’s got legs and a -”

“Scott, focus!” Cat snapped, her patience running out. “I thought you wanted to get in and out quickly?”

“Well yeah, but now we’re here we’d be as well having a look around to make sure you’ve not forgotten anything from the order,” he suggested equitably with a shrug. “You always say it’s easier when you can actually see the stuff in front of you.”

“OK, fine. But we’re going to do it quickly,” Cat agreed, knowing that he had a point about shopping online. “And put that bloody carrot down.”

“But I’m getting it for Gordon,” Scott protested, putting it in a basket that he’d picked up from somewhere. 

Cat took a deep breath. This was going to take longer than she’d anticipated. 

***

"Why are we the ones that have to help?" Alan grumbled, accepting the lemon Brandon handed him and scrubbing it viciously against the zester. 

"Because, unbelievable as it sounds, you're actually the most sensible one, plus you don't argue with me, you follow directions like the perfect boy you are.”

Brandon snorted softly at that but they ignored him.

“Come on, don’t you want your brother to have the best birthday ever?” she wheedled.

“You do know him, don’t you?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?” Selene threw her hands up in frustration. “Of course I do, but I also know that if you let him get his own way too often he’ll never put so much as a toe outside of his comfort zone. He might see everything from his lofty space spot, but he often fails to see the big picture. He’ll enjoy it once he’s in the middle of it, I promise. And if he doesn’t you have full permission to blame it all on me, deal?”

Alan thought about it for a second or two and then held out his hand, which she dutifully shook.

“Deal.”

“Cool, now get back to those lemons, I need five zested to within an inch of their lives and then three of them squeezed, no pulp, no seeds? You good with that?”

“We can handle it,” Brandon promised her, taking one of the lemons Alan had already rubbed into oblivion, cutting it in half and popping one piece into the extractor, pressing the lever down hard.

“Thank you, darling,” she said, smiling indulgently. She absolutely adored Brandon, he was a complete sweetheart once you pushed aside his brash, show off nature, kinda like Gordon in that way although a little more obnoxious with it. 

“No problem,” he shrugged. Brandon was a little unused to being in such a big, affectionate family, he’d frozen on the spot the first time she’d grabbed him from behind and hugged him, but he was slowly getting used to it. She knew his type, hell, she was his type, cultivating a loud, confident personality to show to the world, a tough outer shell that hid your squishy center. He’d need time, but they had plenty of it.

She got to work measuring out the flour, butter and sugar into separate little bowls and set up the mixer. She was an old fashioned kind of baker, not unlike Grandma’s disastrous attempts. She had learnt from her Nan, who had learnt from hers, a never ending cycle of knowledge that Selene was determined to pass on.

She plopped the butter and sugar into the mixer and set it on a medium speed to cream together while she gathered the cake pans.

Checking the mixer’s progress she added the eggs, dribbled in some vanilla essence and turned it down a little.

“How you doing with those lemons?”

Alan pushed a small bowl full of zest over to her while Brandon started on his final lemon half.

“Great, want to help me grease these tins?”

“Sure,” Alan agreed, ever helpful. “I’ll get the spray.”

“You will do no such thing, have I taught you nothing? Real butter is the only thing that will grace these pans, that spray stuff is rubbish, it gives the cake a weird taste and it doesnt stop the batter sticking.”

“Fine, fine, butter it is,” he held his hands up in defeat.

While she slowly added the flour to the mix, Alan greased the pans in his own unique way, scooping up fingerfulls of butter and smearing it around rather than using a folded paper towel as she would have, but he got the job done so she gave him a pass. Brandon made himself useful without being asked, picking up the scissors she had left on top of the baking parchment on which she had drawn around the bottoms of the pans and started to cut them out.

Selene watched him out of the corner of her eye, slightly suspicious. He was actually competent, more than competent truth be told, he seemed to know what he was doing, like he’d had prior experience…

She dumped the lemon zest into the batter and, after Brandon laid the cut outs into the bottom of the pans, she divided the mixture between the three tins and slid them into the oven, setting the timer.

“Now we wait.”

***

It was hot and sweaty down on the beach and Claire was starting to regret volunteering her services for setting up the screen, the midday sun was unforgiving but time was running out; it was now or never and never was not an option. 

If Claire thought she was warm in her work clothes it must be nothing to how Virgil was feeling, jumping in and out of his full exosuit as required in order to shift the girders. She watched as a few beads of sweat formed on the back of his neck and idly wondered if there would be time for a leisurely shower to help freshen him up before the party, maybe she could offer to help scrub his back. 

“Earth to Claire! This would go a lot quicker if you passed up the tools.”

“Huh?” she startled, dragged out of her rather pleasant daydream.

“Hex-driver, please,” Virgil asked again from his perch where he was holding the top beam of the screen frame in place. Claire passed up the driver and Virgil started tightening up the bolts.

“Do you two need a hand?” Gordon called out as he wandered along the beach towards them.

“We’re good, thanks. At least Claire knows her hexes from her hammers,” Virgil called back with a smirk.

“Urgh, bro, are you never going to let me forget that? It was one time,” Gordon whined.

“No,” Virgil grinned, “I’m going to be reminding you of that one for years to come. What’cha doin down here anyway, hasn’t Selene given you a job to do?”

“Nope, you’d think she doesn’t trust me or something. I’m banned from the kitchen and been told I’m not allowed anywhere near the drinks. She wouldn’t even let me suggest some good movies for later.”

“I wonder why?” Virgil rolled his eyes as Gordon kicked distractedly at the sand. “Well if you’re at a loose end can you set up the projector. Kit’s in that crate over there and I’ve marked out where it goes. I’d ask Claire to make a start on it but, y’know, digital.”

“Oi! I’m not that bad.” She glared up at the engineer who was still tightening the bolts on the gantry rig, earning her a cheeky grin in return. She was perfectly capable of setting up the electrical kit, as well he knew, but they had agreed to get the heavy lifting parts finished first and that job definitely needed two people 

Having Gordon help out would certainly help speed things up. The screen set-up already looked like it would be more at home in a professional theatre then a home cinema and that was before the speaker system was installed. Tonight was going to be a properly immersive viewing experience, heck, even their specific location on the beach had been carefully calculated to account for the predicted wind direction and strength that night so that the sound of the waves wouldn’t be too intrusive. When these boys did something they did it properly.

The extra pair of hands definitely made a difference, especially as Gordon and Virgil seemed to know instinctively what each other was about to do. Their natural teamwork shone through, honed by years of pairing together in the field. That’s not to say Claire became obsolete but it certainly freed up more opportunities for admiring the view even if there were fewer chances to act upon it; she had never been as comfortable at showing her affections in public as Selene was and even if Gordon was their only observer she and Virgil became rather more work focussed now there was an audience. 

“Are we done yet?” Gordon grumbled as Virgil checked the projector with a laser sight to make sure it was perfectly aligned with the screen. It was all good natured though, after all, he had been the one to volunteer his services and it didn’t feel right to be doing nothing when everyone else was busy.

“Don’t ask me, ask her,” Virgil responded as he nudged the projector lens a fraction to the left. “I’m just the hired help.”

“And I’m just following Selene’s plan, as is everyone else who does not want to die a painful death at the hands of an angry witch.” Claire laughed as she pulled out a task list and ran through it. “Right. Screen is up and speakers and projector are in place, so that’s the cinema part done. We can’t build the pizza oven because it isn’t here yet. Tables are already over there ready for the topping station, the food will be brought down later once Cat and Scott get back and we’ve had a chance to prep the ingredients. That just leaves getting a campfire built in case we want to light one later.”

Gordon’s eyes lit up. “Of course we’re going to want a campfire later, that’s one of the best things about a beach party. I hope Scott gets marshmallows.”

Claire had to admit it was one of the bits she was most looking forward to. She wasn’t too bothered about the choice of movie but the chance to relax under the stars to the glowing backdrop of a gently crackling fire, now that was an idea she could get on board with. Life on the island was frenetic and unpredictable so dialling down the pace and curling up under a blanket, preferably with a solid lump of Tracy chonk, would be a rare treat.

***

“Careful! You don’t need to poke it like you’re hammering in nails!” Selene yelped, checking the cake for any signs of it giving way under the unwarranted attack.

“I wasn’t!” Alan protested, but he did go a little more gentle with the metal skewer he was stabbing into the cake. Selene risked a glance at Brandon who shrugged in return.

“Gentle poking is usually better,” Brandon reminded him gently as he dribbled the syrup, made from sugar mixed with the lemon juice, into the holes Alan had just made.

Selene turned away, ostensibly to grab the cream out of the fridge but mostly because she couldn’t look them in the eye at that moment without laughing and needed a moment to calm down.

She checked the white chocolate that was slowly melting in a bowl that sat over a pan of water on the stove. Finding it almost done she removed it from the heat and swapped the pan of water for another, measuring out the cream into it.

“What are you making now?” Alan asked, having apparently grown bored of poking holes. He'd abandoned the job, leaving Brandon to finish off, and was now hovering over her shoulder, trying to dip his finger in her chocolate.

“A white chocolate ganache, you know John isn’t a fan of heavy frosting so I thought I’d try this instead, we’ll use half of this to sandwich the cake together and the rest to cover the outside, finish it off with some chocolate curls and those candied lemon slices and we should be good to go.”

She took the pan off the heat and carefully poured around two thirds of the cream straight into the chocolate and began madly whisking, mixing it in as quickly as she could. Once it was smooth she slowed down, swapping her whisk for a spatula and gently folded in the last of the cream.

“Can I taste it?”

“Sure,” she scooped a little out with a spoon and offered it to him.

If she had expected him to be delicate with it she was sorely mistaken, he didn’t dip his finger in or lick up a little bit, he shoved the whole spoonful in his mouth. She bit her lip to stop the smile that was trying to form. Alan, she knew, was a bit of a sensitive soul and if you laughed at him he would immediately think he had done something wrong and often overcompensated or became embarrassed, which he had no reason to be.

“Good?”

“So good,” he nodded, licking the spoon clean before offering it back to her.

“Maybe just pop it in the dishwasher, yeah?”

“Oh, sure, sorry,” he moved to put it away.

“Has anyone checked the time?” Brandon asked, finishing up with the cakes.

“Yeah, it’s-” Selene paused to check her phone. “It’s late! Shit! I have to go. Boys, I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need you to step up to the plate for the home run. It’s not hard, I’ve got faith in you.”

“What? No, Sel, you can’t!”

“Sure I can. All you need to do is sandwich the cakes together then spread the rest of this over the cake and try to make it look semi decent. You’ve got this.”

Alan shook his head vigorously in denial. “No, no we don’t got this.”

“Brandon?” Selene looked at him, hoping her theory would prove correct.

“It’s fine, go, we can finish off here,”he promised confidently. She just hoped it wasn't his usual brand of Bear bravado and he did have a vague clue as to what he was doing. 

“Thank you,” she tossed her apron aside and rushed out of the kitchen, heading for the hangars. “I’m going to get John!”

***

“Are you ready, birthday boy?”

“Not quite.”

Selene sighed, tipping her head back, looking towards the heavens, praying for strength.

“Babe, come on, I’m twenty minutes late so you should have been done by now.”

“I assumed you’d be your customary hour late and that I had time to finish this.”

“How rude.”

He gave her that look, one eyebrow raised, lips slightly pursed that showed he didn’t believe her and wasn't impressed.

“OK, fine, it’s your birthday so I won’t argue with you. Now move your butt, Spaceman, we gotta get you out of that uniform and into something more comfortable.” She grabbed his hand, meaning to tow him to the elevator if she had to, and tugged on his arm to emphasise her point. 

He stayed put, refusing to move, turning his hand in hers to link their fingers, squeezing lightly. One sleek auburn eyebrow rose in invitation as his eyes drifted the length of her body. 

“No, we don’t have time,” she warned him sternly, although she was helpless to protest when he tugged her into his arms.

“We can make time, it’s my birthday and you did just say you wanted me to get into something more comfortable,” his arms slid around her waist, coming to rest on her backside, pulling her closer. He bestowed upon her the goofiest smile she'd ever seen on his face and, much to her despair, she felt herself weakening. 

“That was not what I meant and you know it,” unable to resist the lure of his lips she tipped her head back in silent demand.

“I know, but it was worth a shot,” he kissed her softly, nipping her lower lip as they parted. “Fine, evil witch, give me five minutes then you can lead me to my doom.”

“And you say I’m the dramatic one.”

***  
Almost all of the family and their various tag alongs had already made their way down to the beach by the time Selene had completed her John wrangling. He was obviously in one of his contrary moods, taking his time in finishing his task, turning changing out of his uniform into a twenty minute long affair that put her indecision and faffing to shame, so much so that it was more than an hour before he'd given up on his stalling and admitted defeat. 

When Selene had dragged him down to the beach instead of the lounge, John had been a little skeptical but she had insisted that he’d love it. Upon stepping off the path and onto the sand, he had to admit that the set up looked pretty impressive. 

“See,” she gloated, nudging him with her elbow, “I promised it would be great, maybe one day you’ll learn to trust me.”

“Maybe, but don’t count on it,” he nudged her back. “You forget that I know you.”

“Mean,” she retorted with a mock indignant sniff as they made their way over to the food.

The pizza oven was already fired up and giving off a furnace like heat although that didn’t seem to be stopping Gordon and Alan from poking at the flames that were merrily dancing inside the cavity. Balls of dough had been pre-stretched and were laid out on long trestles with bowls of ingredients dotted in between. All tastes had been catered for and the array of toppings was more than enough to please even the pickiest of eaters, the anchovies and pineapple being carefully placed at opposite ends of the trestle in deference to the very strong opinions of Gordon and Scott who each though that only one of those belonged on pizza.

Selene cast an assessing eye over the set up, glad that she had done the sensible thing and enlisted the girls. Women knew how to get shit done, women knew how to follow instructions when they were given them...instructions, shit, the cake!

Her eyes darted across the table until she located the cake stand. She sighed in relief, damn, that actually looked edible, more than edible if she was being honest. She glanced at Brandon, who was smiling smugly back at her, blowing him a little kiss in thanks, she knew full well he would have had his work cut out in keeping Alan away from the ganache enough to frost that baby. Alan, she assumed, had been the one to decorate it, this assumption was based on the fact that the candied lemon slices had been stuck to the side to form a smiley face and the chocolate curls had become hair. You win some, you lose some. At least they hadn’t dropped the thing.

“When I asked for pizza I wasn’t expecting we’d have to make it,” John observed, though thankfully he didn’t sound too put out.

“Think about it, there is nothing better than pizza fresh out of the oven,” Selene explained. “And no matter how fast One is, they always end up a little soggy and cool by the time they get here, this way everyone gets exactly what they want and it’s piping hot.”

“That’s true,” he admitted. “Are there any hotdogs over there?”

“Yep, and your caramelized apples, although how you can eat that I will never know and I’m totally judging you for it.”

“The day you stop judging me is the day the moon falls out of orbit in shock,” he started, grinding to a halt when Cat yelled across the sand at a level that would do Selene proud. How such a loud noise could come out of such a tiny body still boggled his mind, although she'd had a lot of practice according to his brother.

“Right everyone,” called Cat, her shout making the whole group turn to look at her. “We can fit 2 pizzas in the oven at once so I suggest we let the birthday boy and his lovely wife have the first go.”

“Only if they get theirs made first,” Gordon retorted, launching himself towards the pineapple end of the table. “Some of us are hungry and I’m not waiting for ol’ Johnny boy over there to lay out his peppers at a precise 15 degree angle from each other.”

This earned him a glare from Virgil which stopped the aquanaut in his tracks, thankfully halting what had the potential to be a disastrous collision with the trestles. Virgil knew full well how much Selene wanted this to be an enjoyable birthday for John and that meant keeping Gordon’s exuberance in check slightly. Even if he wasn’t aware of Selene’s wishes, Claire had made it perfectly clear that just getting John to be present had been hard enough and he wasn’t beyond turning right around and heading back up to Five if things got too out of hand.

“Fiiiine, John gets first dibs on the oven.” His capitulation was accompanied by a definite pout.

“There’s nothing to stop you building yours and getting it ready,” Claire pointed out as she selected a base and started adding a ladle of tomato sauce to the middle of it, she was feeling pretty hungry herself after all the heavy lifting earlier and it had taken a lot of willpower not to tuck in while preparing the toppings.

“We’re fine waiting,” John assured them, reaching for a glass of juice, “my stomach always needs a while to settle, gravity and pizza won't mix straight away.”

“Well, if you’re sure then, Gordon, you're up,” Scott confirmed with a grin, setting a gleeful squid free to heap as many toppings as he could on top of his pizza. 

“Claire, you’re probably the other one closest to having a pizza ready for the oven too so get yours in as well when you’re ready,” Virgil pressed, knowing how hard she had worked earlier and certain that he’d be able to steal a slice while his own was cooking. As if to cement that idea he added a couple of rounds of his preferred salami to the top of her pizza while trying to distract her with a kiss to the back of the neck.

“Oi!” she gave him a gentle thwack in return but allowed the salami to stay. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, just no trying to sneak mushrooms onto mine, you can keep those foul things on your own pizza.”

“Looks like they’ve got the right idea,” Scott murmured, sidling up behind Cat as she grabbed a pizza base of her own, nodding over to Virgil and Claire so she was sure to know what he was on about. 

“So you’re wanting to make two half and half pizzas then?” she replied, not even looking at him as she continued her assessment of the toppings. “Sounds good to me. I don’t know about you but I’m starving and anything that gets you fed quicker is definitely a winner. You’re a nightmare when you’re hungry.”

“I resent that,” Scott exclaimed, taking his chance and grabbing a handful of pepperoni and piling it onto one side of the pizza before wandering off to find a drink leaving Cat smiling fondly and shaking her head.

“You’re going to force me to make your pizza for you, aren’t you?” Selene whispered to John, who didn’t bother denying it, already wandering off to stake out a spot amongst the cushion and blanket nests on the beach. “My next husband won’t ignore me,” she called after him, earning her a careless wave in acknowledgement.

“Want to make mine too?” Kayo asked, materialising like magic behind her, making her jump and drop the piece of tomato she had picked up to nibble on. Kayo sniggered evilly, having known exactly what she was doing.

“You bitch! You did that on purpose,” Selene accused. She hadn't even known that Kayo was home, she hadn't been due back for at least another few hours, having played chauffeur to Brains who was attending a conference with Moffie. "Does Shadow even have an engine left? You must have ragged the shit out of it to get home this fast."

“Yep,” Kayo agreed, showing zero shame, her hand snaking out to snag a bowl of shredded cheese, although to what she was agreeing with Selene didn't know. “I actually came over to warn you.”

“Warn me about what?” Selene groaned instantly distracted, visions of various disasters dancing through her head like sugar plums on Christmas Eve.

Kayo turned and pointed over to where Grandma was hovering near the pizza oven.

“Maybe if Virgil added more wood to the oven the pizzas would cook a little quicker,” Grandma suggested innocently. Selene was not fooled, neither was Scott, who received a gentle kick to the ankle, tagging him in to deal with diverting her attention.

“Stop her,” she hissed, shoving him forwards. Scott nodded, squaring his shoulders, preparing to enter the lion's den.

“We can’t,” he told her, stepping up admirably, “we need to make sure we keep enough for the bonfire later.”

She didn’t look like she believed him, casting a skeptical glance at the large pile of driftwood and timber that lay neatly piled up beside a palm tree. 

“Grandma, why don’t you start building a pizza for Parker seeing as yours is already in the queue for firing. You know what he is like, he’ll probably try and stay up at the house but there is plenty of food to go around. He should be arriving with Lady Penelope any time.”

There was more than one sigh of relief as Grandma followed Virgil’s advice and stepped away from the wood pile. The chances of the chauffeur actually making it down to the beach were slim, his ingrained belief in ‘knowing his place’ despite having been considered practically one of the family for years meant he was unlikely to venture further than the kitchen, this was probably just as well looking at the stomach churning combination of toppings that were being piled onto a spare base with little regard for taste or decency. Still, it served the purpose of keeping the family matriarch busy and out of trouble. 

Jeff, with a calm peace that came from years of practice in ignoring the ruckus that was his family, was happily arranging toppings on his own pizza, a look of extreme concentration on his face. Not for the first time, Selene found herself watching him, loving the enjoyment he seemed to get out of doing the simplest of things and once again she couldn't help be reminded of just how much he had missed out on while stuck far away in space. She might not have the connection and history with him that the others did but having spent time getting to know him since his return she couldn’t imagine not having him there.

“Why are you staring like a weirdo?” Alan asked her, popping up out of nowhere like a curious meerkat, Brandon trailing behind him.

“I wasn’t staring,” she lied smoothly, “I was observing, there’s a difference.”

“Fine, why were you observing?” 

“Because I can,” she answered like that said it all when really it answered nothing. “Make your pizzas and stop spying on me.”

Alan shrugged, knowing he wasn’t going to get any more from her. He tried to wander away to the table, an action that was severely hampered by Brandon having chosen that precise moment to stick his hands in the back pockets of Alan’s jeans. Selene smirked at the resulting stumble and blush as Alan nearly faceplanted the sand before recovering and wandering back to the food hand in hand with the orchestrator of his downfall. 

Grabbing a drink Selene went to join John, dropping down on his lap with no warning, making him grunt when certain delicate body parts came into close contact with her backside.

“Sweetie, darling, love of my life, are you ever planning to join in with your own party?”

John’s arms snaked around her, pulling her in tighter to his lap. “It's not supposed to be a party, but I will, I’m just...breathing.”

She turned and gave him a curious look. Of course he had better be breathing, if he wasn’t there was something seriously wrong.

“You know what I mean. It’s not that I don’t appreciate all this, because honest, I do, it’s perfect, you’re perfect.” She snuggled in deeper; flattery would get him everywhere. “It’s not often that I get a birthday that doesn’t get hijacked by one brother or another. They mean well but they can get a little carried away in their good intentions, I’m just enjoying the peace while it lasts.”

“Don’t you worry, boo, everyone knows the plan. Pizza, movie, a few drinks and a campfire; this is your day and you will enjoy it." Her tone told him that his enjoyment was mandatory and she wouldn't allow anything less."Now, has that juice done its job?”

She fixed him with a look that said she knew perfectly well that the juice had been a thinly veiled excuse. He nodded dutifully, unsurprised when she immediately hoisted herself up from his lap, dragging him up from the blanket after her and began towing him back toward the family. 

The pizza oven was doing its job admirably and, after a few near misses in the burning department, Virgil had worked out the timings and was now churning out perfectly cooked pizzas two at a time to the waiting hoards. 

Penelope and Parker had arrived while Selene and John had been talking and were winding their way through the small crowd, greeting everyone. Having accepted the drinks that Scott offered them, they wisely declined the pizza Grandma presented, claiming they weren’t ready to eat just yet. 

Selene watched the evening unfold. For once thing were actually going to plan, she suspected Claire and Cat had a hand in that as she watched them subtly divert or corral various brothers if they looked like they were getting out of hand, although nothing could stop Alan and Brandon having an impromptu game of frisbee with a pizza that has been left in the oven for too long while Virgil was off getting a drink. The charred disc had been far too tempting and bits of burnt topping were flying off in all directions as it got flung up and down the beach but they were playing well away from the blankets and screen so she left them to it.

John was finally working on his pizza, taking matters into his own hands after Selene had refused to make it for him, declaring it to be an abomination to tastebuds. He didn’t mind, even going so far as to hum obnoxiously as he laid sliced up hot dog pieces beside chicken, ham, onion, mushrooms and his apple pieces. He finished the whole thing off with a generous drizzle of mustard, daring her to comment, finding the look of disgust on her face highly amusing.

Selene stuck to a more simplistic and in her opinion traditional selection of chicken and bacon pieces, nothing else would grace her pizza, it never did. It seemed their pizzas were the last to go into the oven and Selene took over, supervising the cooking after she insisted that Virgil go and enjoy his own food rather than trying to stuff it into his mouth standing up.

“Did you tell Virgil which movie you wanted to watch?” she asked John as he carefully maneuvered the pizza peel rather awkwardly into the small opening of the oven and under the pizza. She probably could have attempted it but it wouldn't have been as much fun as watching his eyes roam the oven, obviously mentally calculating the dimensions to work out the exact angle of attack. 

“Grab that board, will you?” he asked, concentrating on retrieving his frankenstein pizza. 

She picked up the wooden board they had been using to slice the pizzas on and held it under the oven, ready to catch his monstrosity. He carefully, lovingly slid it off the pizza shovel and she set it aside, unable to take it seriously. She grabbed another board and held it out ready for her, far more sane, pizza.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she prompted him as she waited while he carefully and precisely sliced his pizza before placing it on a plate. Her’s was a little more chaotic, some slices bigger than others and he was sure that she had done it on purpose as revenge for the mushrooms he’d dared to adorn his pizza with.

“Yep.”

“Do I get to know what it is?”

“No, wait and find out.”

“Fine, move your butt, Spaceman, I’m hungry.”

They grabbed a couple more drinks and returned to their pillows, ready to eat and settle in for the night.

***

The sun had fully set and the beach was in near darkness but for the glow reflected back from the screen, illuminating the cushion piles dotted about like little islands of cosiness from which the family watched the movie, nestled up in blankets. Well, most of them were watching the movie. One or two of the islands seemed to be a little more covered in blankets than others and the occasional giggle drifting on the air suggested some of the couples were making use of the semi-privacy afforded by the night.

Jeff, Grandma and Parker had declined the invitation for the movie, opting instead to take some food to the pool side. “You don’t want us oldies cramping your style,” Jeff had said with a twinkle, noting that every single one of his boys was paired up, something he had never expected to see during the long darkness of his marooned years.

Kayo had made herself a throne-like pillow pile and was lounging like a queen, eating her pizza and drinking her beer on her own little island of tranquility. She was rather like John in the fact that she didn't like a lot of fuss, she preferred her space and peace. She liked to stretch out while watching a movie, often claiming a couch or bucket seat to herself, something no one dared argue with her about. 

As usual, Selene had made sure everyone else was catered for before she had allowed herself to settle. She'd fluttered here and there checking that everyone had their preferred choice of movie snacks, had eaten enough and had all the drinks they might need. It wasn't until John had played dirty, invoking his birthday rights, demanding she return to his side and give him the attention he deserved, that she had stopped fussing and allowed herself to relax. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this one before,” Selene commented, nuzzling her nose against John’s chin, just because it was there and looked pretty tempting. 

“You’ve never seen E.T?” the disbelief in his tone made her giggle.”We used to watch this all the time when Alan was small, it was his favourite.”

“Is this going to make me cry? I have a feeling it will, it has that vibe to it, it’s far too cute to stay that way.”

He didn’t answer her, but the tightening of his arm around her shoulders suggested that she was right.

He took a moment to just appreciate their peaceful surroundings, it was rare for the whole family to be together and not be arguing, yelling or generally making a nuisance of themselves and he was determined to enjoy every minute of it. 

He had to admit that he’d been a little dubious at first, an old fashioned projector and a cloth screen on the beach shouldn’t have worked and he’d been prepared to spend the entire movie inwardly cringing at the quality but, to his intense surprise it was rather good. Atmospheric was the only word he could think of that fitted and it suited the movie he’d chosen. The pillows were soft, the blankets were warm and it was certainly more comfortable than squashing up on the couches in the lounge. All in all, despite the reservations he had felt when she had forced him into a family celebration, he was glad she had.

He reached for his beer, lifting his head just enough that he could drink without missing his mouth, taking a long swallow. He wasn’t on duty until the next evening and he was going to make the most of it. He had his woman curled up beside him, one of her legs draped over both of his, her arm lying across his stomach, her head resting on his chest and there was nowhere else he'd rather be. What more could he ask for? 

***

As the end credits rolled the various blanket piles started shifting and the occupants emerged like butterflies from cocoons. Or at least Scott and Virgil emerged having been primed to light the bonfire the moment the movie was over. The dry wood caught quickly and, with the skill of those that had built many a beach fire over the years, the two eldest brothers soon had a neat blaze going.

Gordon wandered over to join them, having left Penelope catching up with Cat, Kayo and Claire. His cheeks were already bulging like a hamster where he had made a start on the marshmallows, unable to wait to toast them and Scott was glad he had thrown in three extra bags in addition to those Selene had asked for on the shopping list; he did know his little brothers after all. 

“Where’s Alan?” Gordon mumbled around the fluffy confection, earning him a pointed look from Scott for talking with his mouth full which, being Gordon, he chose to ignore. He’d passed John and Selene contentedly curled around each other on a pile of pillows but his youngest brother was conspicuous in his absence.

“Well considering he and Brandon set up furthest from the screen, and Brandon is also missing, I’d be surprised if they’ve even noticed that the movie has finished,” Virgil smirked as he added another branch to the carefully constructed pile. 

“They’ve got ten minutes, then I’m sending Gordon over,” Scott warned, raising his voice enough so that it would carry across the beach.

Virgil snorted but declined to comment, reaching for a fresh beer. 

"How comes I'm the one drafted to break up their love fest?" Gordon bitched good-naturedly, not looking up from the marshmallows he was spearing with a kebab skewer, alternating pink with white. 

"Because I said so," Scott answered. "Don't act innocent, Penelope has a very distinct giggle you know."

"Are you trying to imply something?" 

"What happened in the movie?" Scott asked innocently. 

"You know," Gordon hedged, "that alien wanted to phone home but he didn't have enough credits so the girl offered him her phone."

Virgil shook his head disappointedly. "Not even close, Squid."

"No, he definitely tried to call someone, he's the one with the weird glowing finger, right?" 

Scott's raised eyebrow was almost as expressive as John's, perfectly conveying that he thought his brother was an idiot. 

Gordon slumped, knowing he was beaten."Come on, you can't blame me, Virg, help me out here."

"Don't drag me into this, I behaved."

"Because your girlfriend lives on the island, mines across the globe."

"As is mine," Scott reminded him, moving quickly aside when Gordon's marshmallows burst into flames. 

"I meant to do that," Gordon insisted, flapping the skewer to put them out. 

"Sure you did," Scott laughed, picking up his own skewer, a couple of Graham crackers and some chocolate. 

"Hey, Scott, did you notice that Cat's shirt is buttoned up wrong?" 

Scott spun round, looking over at his girlfriend, he was sure he'd checked before they had moved. "No, it's not," he inisited. 

"Ha, made you look! See, you're no better than the rest of us."

"Busted, bro," Virgil laughed, stealing one of Scott's marshmallows. 

"Hey, get your own!" 

"Seriously, you're fighting over marshmallows now?" Cat asked, wandering over with Claire and Penelope. She stole a marshmallow of her own and sat down beside Scott on the sand, enjoying the warmth as he casually slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him. 

"They fight about everything," Claire informed her, accepting the bottle of beer Virgil held out in offer and settling herself in a deckchair. "Two days ago they were arguing over who got the last poptart."

"Who won?" Cat asked. 

"Selene."

"Too right I did, they were mine to begin with," the witch preened, having made her way over when the scent of toasting sugar had reached her nose, tempting her out of the warmth of John's arms and over to the fireside, Kayo coming with them. 

"My wife is fierce in protecting her property," he squeezed her waist, smiling proudly. 

"You only say that when you're in smacking range," Gordon laughed, ducking when Selene aimed for his head. "When she's not around you say how you're expecting to be asked to provide bail money any day now."

"I am who I am," Selene shrugged, settling beside John on one of the large logs that acted as permanent seats around the firepit. "He knew that when he married me, so that's his own fault."

"I don't think it works that way, love."

"So you say," she retorted, leaning her head against his shoulder. "But I'm pretty sure it was in the vows somewhere."

"Yes, I believe it was something along the lines of I promise to love, honour and adore my wife no matter how free she is with her fists."

"See, I knew you remembered." 

"Apparently marriage also hampers your ability to sense sarcasm," Scott tossed in, in the mood to stir the pot, earning himself a level two Selene glare, patent pending. 

"Alan, Brandon!" Virgil yelled, ever the peacemaker yelled over his brothers laughter. "It's time for cake and gift giving." 

"Nice save, big guy," Claire giggled, patting his knee. 

"I thought so," he grinned back. 

***  
“They’re going to realise we’ve left at some point,” John warned her as Selene shut their bedroom door behind them. They had left the rest of the family crowded around the bonfire or chatting happily on some of the pillow piles, munching on leftover snacks, birthday cake and marshmallows. They knew they wouldn’t be able to sneak away for long, but Selene had insisted that he follow her.

“I know, but I wanted to give you your gift and it’s kinda personal so I wanted us to be alone.” The presents that had materialised after the movie had been more than he had wanted or expected, making him feel rather spoiled, although he appreciated the thought they had put into them very much.

"This night just got infinitely better," he grinned, one hand snaking around her waist, fingers sliding under the hem of her shirt. They had behaved during the movie, Selene getting so wrapped up in the story that he hadn’t dared disturb her. As predicted she had indeed cried, but as he’d learnt during one enlightening, if a little bewildering, conversation, crying wasn’t always a bad thing. Apparently some people just enjoyed a good cry and his woman was one of them.

"Not that kind of present," she protested mildly, pushing him backwards towards the bed with a gentle hand to the chest, waiting until he sat down. 

Now that he was there she was actually feeling slightly nervous, doubting her choice of gift. She'd always said that she never wanted to change him, that she loved him exactly as he was and she meant it. She wasn't trying to make him into someone he wasn't, but she hoped that he'd see the logic behind her idea. 

"Are you going to move any time soon?" he asked gently. "Because you've been staring at me for more than a minute and I'm getting a little worried that you've spaced out entirely. 

"Sorry, sorry," she gasped, snapping out of her worry spiral. She dropped down onto her knees in front of him. 

"Why are you nervous?" he asked, reaching out a hand to gently cup the back of her neck. 

"I thought this was a good idea but now I'm not too sure."

"Sweetheart, you know me better than anyone, so stop doubting yourself and just show me."

She nodded slowly, then shuffled forward on her knees, reaching under the bed, dragging out a small wooden chest. 

John reached down to help, finding it far easier than he had expected, it looked like it would be heavier and the fact that it wasn't filled him with curiosity. 

He placed it on the bed beside him, fingers running over the curved top, tracing the carved vines and leaves that decorated the sides. 

"This is really nice," he lifted it onto his lap to study it, frowning slightly in confusion when he heard a number of items shift inside. "What did you put in this?" 

Selene placed her hand on the lid, stopping him from opening it. 

"Let me just explain first, OK?" 

"OK…should I be worried? Gifts don't usually require an explanation."

"Not worried, no," she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. "I just… I know you don't like collecting things, I know you don't really see the point of it, but I do, and I think it's important."

He nodded, encouraging her to continue. 

"I got this box for both of us really, and for the future maybe, I don't really know," she shrugged uncomfortably. "I know we said we didn't want kids and I'm not changing my mind on that yet, but you have a lot of family and I still think it's important that we have things, memories, to pass on or to just look back on in the future and remember, remember us. You know what I mean?" 

"Yeah, I think I do," he caught her hand in his, moving it away from the box lid. More than two years with a witch could change your perspective on so many things and her value of objects was something that had started leaking out into him, not that he'd ever really admit it. He'd found that recently he'd started thinking twice before he discarded something as unnecessary, putting it aside to think about later, knowing that it might be something she would want. Keeping things that reminded him of a time in his life had never really been a thing he did, mostly they were memories he didn't want to look back on, but recently that had changed. 

"I thought it might be something we could do together, each adding things that hold a memory, plus it means there is a place for them so they won't be scattered around the room and you won't get grumpy at me."

"That would be a bonus," he joked, his thumb stroking her skin absently.

“I already put a few things in there, obviously, just the bits I had back at the flat, you’ll probably think they are stupidly sentimental but that’s kinda just how I am in general so you’ll have to deal with it.” She took her hand off the top of the box and quickly flipped the lid open to reveal the contents.

Beyond curious now, John looked inside the box, his eyes tracking over every item. He recognised a fair few of them, but some were a complete mystery to him. Moving the box onto his lap he patted the bed beside him, waiting until she had sat down before making his request.

“Talk me through them.”

“Fine, but don’t laugh at me.”

“As if I ever would.”

“Dude, you laughed at me two nights ago because I was getting sentimental in the kitchen.”

“Love, you were talking to a cherry tomato because you thought it was too cute to sacrifice to the salad gods and then got upset when Virgil ate it after you left it on the counter.”

“It wasn't on the counter, it was on the coffee pot and it was supervising.”

“I promise I won’t laugh this time,” he assured her. “What’s this?” he pointed at a length of ribbon tied neatly in a bow.

“Those are the laces from my ball dress, the ones you had to cut through.”

He smiled, biting his lip at the memory, that had been a very good night. “And that?”

“That’s the weird mini picnic table they put in pizza boxes to stop the lid getting squashed, it came in our pizza box the night you turned up on my roof.”

Weirdly enough he was actually enjoying this. It was nice to see the things she associated with them and how she felt about them. Yes it was stupidly sentimental to keep a piece of plastic that should have been recycled, but just seeing it did in fact bring the memory back into sharp focus. He recalled how she had spoken to him so openly and honestly, putting him at ease with her, letting him know that he could be himself with her more than he ever had before. He’d fallen asleep squashed on the couch with her, his head on her chest, lulled by her fingers in his hair and her arm around his middle and had slept so deeply he hadn’t woken until the next morning. It had been a sign of things to come, of feeling so comfortable with her that he could truly rest, his mind and body at peace as it always was when she was next to him.

“This is my ticket from the movie we didn’t actually watch on our first date,” she waved the ticket under his nose as if feeling the need to prove its existence.

“And that thing?” 

“Shower cap I stole from the hotel.”

“And the leaf?”

“Found it in my bra the night we met, I think it was from that tree.”

She started pointing things out without being prompted, gaining confidence now he seemed to be on board. “Beer mat from the night you met my parents, candle from our valentines dinner, shell from the beach where we got married, stone from the woods near that cabin we stayed in at Yule.”

“You really do keep the most random things,” he said, laughing softly. “But thank you, I love this, it’s very you but it’s also full of us.”

“You actually like it?” 

“There's no need to sound so surprised about it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to, it was just such a gamble, I know how you don’t really keep things that don’t have a purpose, but I thought we could maybe add a few things together in the future.”

“It was hardly a gamble, I can be sentimental.”

“I know you can, just not in the same way that I am. I’d already kept these things, I just put them in a box.”

John looked at her, caught somewhere between feeling insulted and slightly guilty that she might think he didn’t care about their history as much as she did. Sure she’d never specifically told him that she kept those kinds of things, but he’d always known there was a strong possibility that she had.

“Do you really think that I haven’t kept anything that represents us?”

“No, of course not, I just know you wouldn’t keep random things like I do. See, this was what I was worried about, that you’d think I was saying that your way of doing things wasn’t good enough or that you don’t care and I’d never think that.”

John moved the box over onto her lap and stood up, crossing over to his wardrobe, now almost stuffed to bursting because her clothes were in residence too. He opened the doors and began to flick through his hangars, the black ones, separating them from her purple, the only nod to an organisational system that she would entertain. He had implemented it after he’d accidentally pulled on one of her T-shirts, not realising that the reason it was a little tight wasn't down to Grandma’s laundry skills as he had assumed but because it didn’t even belong to him. He just wished he’d noticed before Alan pointed out that it proclaimed him to be a ‘Basic Witch’.

He pulled out the suit he had worn to Penelope’s ball and reached into the inside pocket, extracting the gold embossed invitation bearing his name. Replacing the suit he crossed over to the bed, dropping the invitation in the box.

Selene fished it out, studying it. “I haven’t even seen this before.”

“The invitation was a formality, we didn’t actually need it, but I couldn’t bring myself to recycle it, so I just left it in there.” He opened his bedside drawer, reaching all the way to the back and extracted a small, satin box, handing it to her.

“The box my engagement ring came in? You kept this?”

“Of course I did.”

He dug around in his drawer again and offered her a slender twig. She frowned, reaching out to take it. As soon as her fingers brushed it she knew what it was.

“A bristle from my broom?”

“It was stuck in my suit, probably from where you wrapped her lucious self around me,” he grinned at the memory. “Something I wouldn’t be against if you felt the urge to repeat that action.”

She smiled, carefully placing the twig in the box. “I guess I could, since it’s your birthday.”

He moved aside, stretching up to reach the top shelf of his bookcase, selected a book and pulled it down.

“Sun, moon and stars: a book for beginners by Agnes Giberne?” she read aloud, holding the old book as gently as she could, eyes darting over the brown leather cover, the gold writing, faded now with age but still legible, along with the etchings of planets and stars. “Wow, this is old, and really beautiful.”

“Yep, almost two hundred years old,” he leant against the wall, crossing his arms. “Open it.”

She didn't quite trust herself but did as she was told, feeling the spine creak and heard it crack as she carefully opened it. 

“This is so gorgeous,” her eyes found the inscription inside, written in an elegant, flowing handwriting. “Your mum gave it to you?”

“For my eighth birthday, turn to page ninety-seven,” he instructed.

She carefully leafed through the delicate pages, feeling them crinkle under her fingers. She stopped on the requested page.

“I was writing notes for my new book, using it as reference of how research and knowledge has changed over the years,” he told her when she looked up at him in shock. “I didn’t realise I was doing it until it was almost finished.”

“You ruined your book,” she said quietly, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“No, I didn’t,” he insisted, sitting down beside her and holding out his hand for the book. “Look at the date on it.”

“Seventeenth of August? That’s less than two months after we met.”

“When you know, you know,” he shrugged as if that explained everything, which to her it did. “You knew I designed it, how do you think I got it made so quickly?”

“I just assumed that being the son of a billionaire had its advantages when getting things done quickly,” she answered, still looking at the drawing, taking in the smoothly curved lines that made up the crescent moon, the little dotted stars, the delicate depiction of the band. She glanced down at her ring finger, her engagement ring resting on top of her wedding band on her left hand, then back to the perfect depiction of it, sketched out in the book he held.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” she giggled, shaking her head in disbelief.

He placed the book in the box. “There, now I’ve added things to our box and I think I've proved my point.”

“You definitely have,” she laughed, leaning in for a kiss when he sat back down. 

He took the box back, lifting the lid to close it, pausing when he saw the inside. 

“Sel? Where did you get this box?”

“A little junk shop on the mainland, honestly I had no idea what to get you and I was just kinda wandering from shop to shop. I wouldn’t usually even shop anywhere like that for you, but you know I always trust my instincts. Is there something wrong with it? Does it have woodworm or something?”

“Did you see this?”

“Oh, that, it reminded me of one of your posters, it was the thing that swung it for me, the old guy had a few boxes but this one seemed the best fit.”

“Love, those aren’t posters, they're antique star charts.”

“OK, I know, sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt their feelings by insinuating they were common,” she joked.

“They are the companion charts to that book,” he nodded into the box. “A set of four, I’ve only got three, I’ve never been able to find the fourth.”

“I’ll put it on my list of things to look for for christmas,” she promised. “I can always use ideas, in case you didn’t realise, you are very hard to buy for.”

“No, you’re not understanding me,” he gently tapped the paper lined lid. “You already found it.”

“I did?” She glanced at the lid again, then up to the wall where his framed posters, sorry, charts, were hung. "Seriously? Are you sure?" 

“You are absolutely amazing,” he grinned, pushing the box aside and dragging her onto his lap. “So amazing.”

“I’m glad you finally realised it,” she laughed, shifting to wrap her legs around his waist.

“I’ve always known it,” he assured her. “But I do have one question.”

“Of course you do,” she let her lips wander, kissing a path along his jaw, appreciating the way he tipped his head to the side to give her better access. "What is it?" 

“Why is there a bottle of massage oil in the box? I don’t remember that.”

“That’s for later, like I said, the box is for adding memories to, and that means we actually have to make them.”

Now that idea had merit. 

“I like the way you think.” He turned his head, meeting her lips with his own.

***

John awoke early, just as dawn was peeking over the horizon, bathing the entire beach in liquid gold. 

He lifted his head to look around, confused at first as to where he was. The sight of mounds of pillows and blankets forming little nests in which various members of his family lay sleeping brought the memory rushing back. 

Selene was draped over his chest like a human blanket, her face nestled in the crook of his neck, the hair tickling his nose as a light breeze blew in from the ocean, picking up and playing with the soft strands. 

They hadn't had time to indulge with the massage oil but she had insisted on providing him with a birthday treat of a different kind. One which had left him sated and a little wobbly in the legs as they had headed down to the beach to rejoin the party, a dopey, extremely satisfied grin on his face. 

They hadn't planned on camping out but bit by bit his family had drifted off to their pillow piles, simply enjoying the night, lulled to sleep by the crackling of the fire and comfortably full bellies 

Selene had passed out on him earlier than some of the others, giving him time to simply enjoy being surrounded by his family but not feeling like he had to join in. 

He'd listened to their conversations, offering a comment or two whenever the mood took him, but mostly content to lay back, fingers tangled in her hair, his eyes roaming the heavens. 

She'd been right, she did know him more than a little bit. Having listened to his requests she had worked with them in such a way that he'd had the perfectly relaxed birthday he'd craved with the people he loved the most. 

He closed his eyes again, deciding that a little more sleep would be welcome. He had nowhere to go and nothing to do that required his immediate attention, he could afford to be a little lazy for once. 

He pulled up the blanket that had slipped off her, covering them both again and sighed contentedly, nuzzling the tip of his nose against her forehead. What more could he want? 

A loud snore rang out somewhere to his left, shattering the silence. 

What more could he want? Maybe quieter brothers…Yes, that would be the ultimate birthday miracle.


End file.
